Braeriach

Braeriach (1,296m) is the third-highest mountain in Britain and the highest summit in the western Cairngorms, separated from Ben Macdui by the great gash of the Lairig Ghru. The mountain forms an arc of cliffs above a series of corries — deep, glacially carved hollows — that hold the upper tributaries of the Dee and the Avon. The Wells of Dee, tiny springs that are among the highest sources of any Scottish river, rise near the summit plateau.

The standard ascent from Aviemore follows the Lairig Ghru path south before climbing onto the plateau — a very long day of 30+ kilometres that requires an early start. The shorter approach from Whitewell in the south gives a more direct line. The views from the summit plateau are extraordinary: the whole central massif laid out to the east, the Monadh Liath across the Spey to the west, and, in clear conditions, the hills of Sutherland visible to the north.

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A story
Braeriach holds the highest corrie lochan in the British Isles — Loch Coire an Lochain at 1,000 metres — and contains, in the Garbh Choire Mòr on its northern face, snow patches that survive most summers and have done so continuously for decades. These are not glaciers, but they are permanent enough to have their own micro-ecosystems of cold-adapted invertebrates found nowhere else in Britain.